Description

A seller route of quality rock, great protection, and a bit of every type of climbing on it. In the name, the routes starts on the face and winds around to the left side of the tower then back right around a notch behind a tower then finishing straight up on easier terrain to the top.

Jam cracks, face climbing, a chimney and exposed moves out and around a corner from under a roof. classic climing in a classic setting.

Start below the large left facing dehedral and make the first pitch belay at the bottom of it on a large ledge 5.6. Move left 2 meters to a short but fun 5.7 crack to low angled slab above with good pro. The angle kicks back up into a 5.8 hand crack to under a roof with a good belay stance on a small block in the corner. Pitch three (money) goes out from under the roof and around the corner into a quality crack to a large ledge 5.7 (possible belay stance). Continue up a double left leaning crack system to the base of the chimney 5.9. Pitch four ascends the chimney using deep holds and cracks for pro then onto the large ledge above. Continue up broken terrain to the next large grassy ledge 5.6. The fifth pitch goes to the top on low 5th class terrain after a few moves of 5.6.

Location

This route is located on the southern face of the Fairshare Tower. The start is either directly below the large left facing dihedral or on the left side of the arete following a right trending ledge system that goes at 5.6

I did this climb recently while camping in the meadows. Super fun, with a variety of techniques involved. Definitely consider leaving packs at the base to make the squeeze chimney a little easier. The approach "trail" branches off a few switchbacks above the caves, at a point that allows a level traverse to the bottom of the tower. We broke it up a bit differently than the description above.

Pitch 1: started on the right side of the arÍte, beneath some black rock, up to the base of the big golden dihedral. 5.6

Pitch 2: head up and left, into the dihedral, then left onto the slab. End this pitch at the bottom of a nice fist crack, next to a set of rap slings that provide escape in bad weather, or if you get scared. 2 ropes are most likely required to rappel from here. 5.6

Pitch 3: straight up the fun fist crack, two #3 camalots wouldn't hurt here, then up to and left around a roof and the arÍte, and onto a sloping ledge. This pitch was rad, the exposure around the roof was awesome. 5.7

Pitch 4: crux move right off the deck, with some left-leaning finger cracks and a nice pull to bigger holds above. After this section wrap around to find the west-facing squeeze chimney. Consider short-hauling your pack here if you brought one. Climb the awesome squeeze, with good gear and holds, and once it shits you out, set a belay in the notch behind the pedestal thingy. Another kickass and very memorable pitch. 5.8

Pitch 5: easy scrambling along the right side of the arÍte, with many possibilities. Pull through a few steeper sections and scramble to where the ridge line flattens out, belay at the end of the rope. 5.6

Gear: one set of nuts and cams from .4 to #2 camalot, with two #3's for the fist crack on pitch 3. A blue tcu or .3 camalot could be used in the finger crack that starts pitch 4, but there were other options as well.

To descend the tower take a 4th class ramp system on the east side of the crest, heading due north. Follow this to a notch, and an easy ledge system wrapping around the west side of the rest of the tower. This ledge leads easily to the scree slopes below on the teepee glacier, near the jhmg base camp.